


Balance

by fab_fan



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, Depressing, Depression, F/F, Grief, Grief/Mourning, Introspection, Not Happy, One Shot, Sad, Season Finale, Short, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24391486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fab_fan/pseuds/fab_fan
Summary: Balance was important. The world rested on it. Their powers rested on it. Yin and Yang. Good and Evil. Light and Dark. Fire and Ice. Land and Sea. Up and Down. Love and Hate. Life was death was life again. Everything was connected. One could not do one thing without it impacting another.
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Comments: 18
Kudos: 86





	Balance

Balance.

It was one of the first things Scylla ever learned. 

Balance was important. The world rested on it. Their powers rested on it. Yin and Yang. Good and Evil. Light and Dark. Fire and Ice. Land and Sea. Up and Down. Love and Hate. Life was death was life again. Everything was connected. One could not do one thing without it impacting another.

She could not break Raelle’s heart without breaking her own.

She couldn’t start out lying to Raelle without eventually lying to herself.

Lying about how everything would be ok. They would be ok. 

They could be happy together. 

Scylla pursed her lips, blinking back the emotions threatening to cascade down her face. The porch creaked with age, and the evening sunlight faded slowly in the distance. Bitterness and regret coated her tongue. She swallowed thickly, trying to banish the darkness inside. The grief. The pain.

Raelle was gone.

She was gone, and everything was wrong. The world moved too slow. It moved too fast. Sounds were too loud and the silence was too quiet. 

How could she be gone?

How could Scylla not know?

That was supposed to happen, right? When someone you loved died, you felt it. You knew the moment their soul left this plane. 

Knew the second you would never be able to hold the thing you needed most ever again.

She stared down at her feet, unable to lift her head. She was tired. Sleep eluded her. How could she sleep when everytime she closed her eyes, steely blue eyes and a sheepishly charming smile greeted her? Mocked her. Taunted her with words her ears would never hear again. 

_I love you._

_I believe you._

_I’m with you._

_I wish we never met._

_Was any of it real?_

_Why me?_

Scylla gasped, fighting to push down the sob building steadily in her chest. When the news arrived, no one believed it. Willa went still. So still. Her face shuttered, and she froze for what seemed like hours. Then, she was gone, searching for confirmation. Unwilling to believe the daughter she had left behind was truly gone. Could never join her. 

Scylla didn’t run. She didn’t shout at people for help. Didn’t make phone calls or release messages via mirrors.

She stared at her palm and wondered why it felt like one more lie...wasn’t a lie at all.

Footsteps clacked behind her, and she felt bodies skip around her. Agents off to do their duty or grab food or something that people did when they didn’t feel like half of their existence was missing.

“I know,” a voice spoke above her, amusement in their tone, “the show was so crazy. When that scene happened...it was like an unbearable sadness just took over.”

Laughter accompanied the footsteps as they stepped further and further away.

Scylla stiffened.

An Unbearable Sadness.

 _I am filled with an unbearable sadness_.

Scylla’s hands trembled.

_Scylla casually turned the corner, trying to not think about how everything was so complicated. How the Spree were breathing down her neck and damn Porter was around trying to ruin everything because he...he didn’t understand. He thought he did, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. How could he? Scylla didn’t even understand. All she knew was...she had a job, but the moment she was in Raelle’s arms or even caught sight of her confident grin, all Scyla could think about was happiness._

_Actual real happiness._

_A group of cadets sprinted past her at breakneck speed._

_She frowned. That was weird._

_Fully stepping around the bend, her feet stuttered to a stop._

_Her heart did too._

_There was Porter, bleeding and broken on the ground._

_Next to him was Raelle, eyes barely open and breath slow._

_Cold dread enveloped her with sick satisfaction._

Scylla gulped, her entire body shaking.

_“I am filled with an unbearable sadness.” she whispered into Porter’s ear._

Oh goddess. No. No.

_Raelle ambled tiredly into view, eyes troubled. Scylla couldn’t help the relief that filled her soul as she saw her._

_“You’re ok.” she kissed her, hugged her. She needed to touch her, hold her. Feel her. Convince herself that Raelle really was ok. That she hadn't almost died for a boy she didn’t even know. Hadn’t almost died because of Scylla. Because of her lies. Because she wanted Raelle and was Spree and was so so scared._

_“Tell me you’re ok.”_

“No.” Scylla wordlessly mouthed, sheen of tears glistening across her eyes.

Porter was dead. 

Raelle tried to save him.

Porter was dead and there needed to be balance. There was always a trade off. Death becomes life becomes death again.

Porter was dead, and now Raelle was too.

“No,” moaned Scylla low in her throat, “No. No. No.” 

This was her fault.

The universe granted her Porter and took Raelle as penance. 

She was a killer, and now she had killed her lover.

Give and take.

Action will cause a reaction.

_I am filled with an unbearable sadness._

The universe tried to take Raelle before. It didn’t succeed, but it didn’t give up. No, it still found a way. After taking its time and letting Raelle suffer even more because of Scylla, torture both of them, it exacted it’s revenge. Brought the world back into balance. 

Life for a life.

Death for a death. 

The squeak of the door barely registered in Scylla’s mind. She didn’t move until a voice called out, “Scylla.”

Blinking slowly, she forced herself to look over her shoulder.

Willa stood tall, unreadable features staring at her.

Willa Collar. The woman who wanted her daughter brought to her. The woman who ordered Scylla to lie. To manipulate. Who orchestrated the whole thing. Everything except the emotions that swept up Raelle and Scylla in their unrelenting grasp.

Except for the love.

Willa, who had ordered Porter taken care of. Ordered Scylla’s mistakes to be covered up.

_"Y_ _ou're supposed to be luring her to us, not to you."_

_The fire still burned brightly in the reflection of the Spree Agent._

_"You already made one mistake we had to clean up. We won't put up with another."_

Willa, whose actions caused death. Whose actions ultimately resulted in Raelle being alone. Being gone. 

Scylla stared at her cohort. She imagined the scales weighing them both.

Tit for tat.

Darkness for the light.

Hope for Fear.

Happiness for Anger.

Raelle never stood a chance.

“You should go inside.” Willa finally said.

Scylla chuckled bitterly, shaking her head.

“Scylla,”

“We doomed her.” Scylla shot out. She turned back around, facing away from the leader, “We doomed her.”


End file.
